Independent stores look for ways to handle changes in buying habits

Jeri Brand, co-owner of Tootie and Tallulah's, showing off products to customer Kristin Rebhan in the Berkley store. Tootie and Tallulah's is a gift and consignment store that is forced to compete with Internet sites like eBay and Craigslist. Thursday, February 20, 2014. Tim Thompson-The Oakland Press

Furniture in the Tootie and Tallulah's Annex in Berkley. Tootie and Tallulah's is a gift and consignment store that is forced to compete with Internet sites like eBay and Craigslist. Thursday, February 20, 2014. Tim Thompson-The Oakland Press

A Franklin landmark is closing, another independent retailer succumbing to changes in the consumer landscape.

Franklin’s Bead Works takes with it 30 years of history as a family business, and a community of crafters that will lose its geographic center.

According to Bead Works owner Nomi Joyrich, she hasn’t lost many customers, but the average purchase has dropped by such a large percentage that the store could not support itself, with the majority of revenue now coming from service and repairs rather than bead, supplies and jewelry purchases.

Opened in 1983 by Joyrich’s mother, Ida Joyrich, and her good friend Ghinda Marrich, Joyrich says that their specialty was individual attention.

Advertisement

“We don’t just sell supplies. We help people design their jewelry bead by bead. It’s not unusual for us to spend two to three hours with one customer. That’s what’s kept us in business all these years.”

Joyrich, who took over the store in 2001, says that business was very good until about seven years ago. She cites several changes in customer buying habits that contributed to the demise of the store.

“More and more people can find what they want on-line,” Joyrich said. “The wholesale shows which used to only sell to store owners, now sell to everyone. And a lot of people who used to come to us for really special one-of-a-kind beaded jewelry can go to any store and get beaded jewelry that was mass-produced in China.”

Joyrich also says that large craft store chains are convenient to buy materials, though, she says that customers are largely getting inferior materials at a greater price.

Beadworks will officially close the Franklin location March 8, after which Joyrich will continue the business, making custom pieces, doing repairs, teaching lessons and hosting beading parties. In the meantime, Joyrich is selling off the bulk of her inventory and her displays and store fixtures at greatly-reduced prices.

Faced with the same issues, and the same changes in buying trends, Robert Thibodeau has maintained an independent bookstore, the Mayflower Book Store, for 42 years in Berkley. The shop is highly specialized in books and items pertaining to the magical arts, yoga, self-healing, and positive thinking.

Thibodeau attributes his success to a combination of expertise, service and smart pricing.

“What I’m trying to do is introduce people to a lifestyle,” he said.

Thibodeau says he opened the store in order to get paid to learn, and that he is “an interpreter of these books.”

“The books at the Mayflower book store are medicines. There’s one for everyone.”

Thibodeau, who is an astrologer, says that customers often purchase a book or item because of something he’s told them in an astrology reading.

“If I share ideas and insights during an astrology reading or just in a casual conversation, many will follow through with checking out suggestions in books,” he said. “I tell them that I don’t care if they buy the book at Mayflower on somewhere else, just check it out.”

Thibodeau says customers do shop online and some buy there, but that he intentionally keeps the book prices below Internet prices, especially on more expensive titles, and that there have definitely been times when his astrology practice was more lucrative.

“I’m there all the time and I’m personally interacting with people to help them find what they need,” he said. “You get the right book and you save yourself reading a thousand books.”

Counter to conventional wisdom about the speed and convenience of Internet shopping, Thibodeau said “Mayflower is one-stop shopping. In three minutes you can see more books that you can see in three hours on the Internet going page after page. Plus personal service and suggestion of what really is the best book. We don’t just sell stuff, we are into education and spiritual uplifting of the soul, heart, mind.”

Sally Crosthwaite is co-owner of Tootie and Tallulah’s a gift and consignment store in Berkley. An avid estate sale shopper who opened the store with her like-minded neighbor Jeri Brand in 2010, Crosthwaite says for them, success is a matter of getting the right pieces at the right prices.

“We feel like we’ve hit the right spot,” she said. “We’re getting quality pieces in and you don’t pay an arm and a leg for it.”

Crosthwaite says that part of the goal in opening the store was to give local artists a place to sell. They also sell a selection of Made in Michigan products.

Crosthwaite said she is seeing a return in customers valuing well-made furniture and one of a kind gifts, rather than inexpensive furniture made from particle board and fillers.

“They’re looking for the solid pieces, the solid wood,” she said.

Furniture sales have been so successful Crosthwaite and Brand opened The Annex nearby to accommodate more furniture and leave space in the main store for décor and gift items.

Tootie and Tallulah’s and The Annex have the leg up on sites like eBay and Craigslist with pick-up and delivery service, which offers convenience and a level of security.

”People don’t want to go through the hassle of having people in their home,” Crosthwaite said.

Approximately half of the store’s sales are gifts.

“So many first-timers come in here and say ‘now I know where to come for a gift. I don’t have to go to the mall,’” Crosthwaite said. “A lot of our clients are about shopping local because the money is staying in the community.”

Crosthwaite said they have become a destination shop for furniture and gifts by offering a great variety of quality pieces at the right prices.

“We’ve got a lot of artists in here,” she said. “We’re always changing our artists and they’re always changing their stuff. It’s always different when you come in.”

Although online shopping has taken a bite out of many businesses, Crosthwaite said they have put the Internet to work for them. Social media has been an important tool for Tootie and Tallulah’s sales. Crosthwaite said every time they get something new in, they post it on Facebook.

“If they see it and they like it, they know it will be gone,” she said.